Products & Services

Features & Benefits

Summary

Zopa Loans, established in 2005, provides simple loans and smart investment solutions to individuals and institutional customers and investors.

Founded in 2005, Zopa is one of the oldest and biggest peer to peer company. Zopa has 75,000+ active investors who have lent over £3 billion to borrowers. Zopa is easy to use and offers two simple investment choices (standard and ISA) that appeal to a wide range of peer to peer lenders. The discontinued Access and Classic accounts and the removal of the Safeguard Provision Fund is a recent negative change for customers looking for lowest possible risk levels.

There is a Transparent loan book information, while existing Access and Classic account loans continue to be Safeguard protected until 2022. ISA’s are available, along with completely hands off automatic diversification and reinvestment, low default rates, and the possibility to exit loans for a fee. Zopa’s website is easy to use, with simple investing options clearly outlined.

The company is regulated and authorized by FCA and has won a number of awards since 2016. Overall, Zopa has gained an excellent reputation in the market.

Trust & Reputation

Rated 5.0/5

The Guardian has stated about the company:

“Zopa is the pioneer of peer-to-peer lending, which uses the internet to cut out the banks entirely. It matches savers with individuals who want to borrow, leaving out the bank and offering better rates all round.”

The company is the founding member of the Peer-to-Peer Finance Association (P2PFA) and is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) under the registration number 718925.
Over 2000 customers on trustpilot.com have given Zopa 5/5 rating, on average. More reviews can also be seen on other UK-specific review sites.

Expertise & knowledge

Rated 5.0/5

Zopa has more than 300 Zopians working in its London and Barcelona offices. It has lent more than £3.05 billion to UK consumers (£996 million in the last 12 months). At present, over 60,000 active individual investors, with the average amount lent as £13,000, while more than 311,000 borrowers are approved, borrowing £7,700 on average. The company has been working with a group of only selected institutional partners, which increases its credibility.

Zopa’s lender loan matching times varies based on demand and loan supply. All Zopa loans are unsecured personal loans. Borrowers are required to pay their interest rate to lenders as well as a fee to Zopa, and an additional fee to contribute to the Safeguard fund. Zopa has investment options under two categories: Zopa Core & Zopa Plus both with a minimum of £1,000 investment, the latter includes higher risk markets (D-E). These options offer “auto-bid” functionality, which means that your capital is automatically lent out in chunks starting at £10 to ensure your portfolio is sufficiently diversified.

Customer Service

Rated 4.0/5

Zopa specializes in personal loans, and individual investors account for around 56% of its loan book. The rest is made up by a variety of financial institutions – such as banks – investing through the company. Zopa provides fast and quick loans for Debt consolidation, Home improvements, Car finance and Weddings. The simple application process enables customers to initiate their process easily and securely. For investors, Zopa offers ISAs with risk management solutions. Institutions are treated like individual investors: there's no cherry-picking of loans and institutions get the same mix of loans as offered to individuals. Zopa has more institutions partnering and investing with it than anyone else in the UK peer-to-peer industry. This gives the company a clear edge in the market.

The instant communication methods include online chat, and call service, through which free quotes, advice and appointments for meeting with advisors can be taken instantly. The social media pages keep customers further updated about the market.

Overall, we rate Zopa as 4/5 for its huge customer base, best rates and diversified loans and investment plans.